On each one I have made clear that I
feel that reviews should solve one purpose. To give honest, critical feedback
on the experiences of the product as it was intended to be used.

Last year Amazon decided to delete hundreds (if not thousands) of reviews
written by other known authors. Very little explanation was given though some
sources claimed they had financial connections to the books they reviewed.

Interestingly a few of mine had
disappeared and I will admit that I do have a financial connection to the books
I reviewed – I am part of the Amazon affiliate program.

In contrast to a lot of people who
review, I take it very seriously and am proud of what I publish. My reviews give
an overview of my experiences with the product from their intended use. For
example a recent one, that is not part of the affiliate system and amazingly
has stayed thus far.

But there are many reviews out there
that aren’t giving constructive feedback. Take some of the reviews on Fifty
Shades of Grey. It didn’t take me long to find these five star reviews on
Amazon.

And even one star reviews have some
poor reviews among them.

I don’t agree with either set of reviews
and I think Amazon and other retailers need to consider what they publish on
their sites. It took me just two pages to find three usable examples of poor five
star reviews. I could have used others if they weren’t so long that they wouldn’t
fit on the web browser in one shot. Yet it took ten pages to find those two one
star reviews. That suggests that these fake reviews are artificially inflating
the overall score of the book. How many other products out there have fake
reviews? Read this blog post as a clue on the subject.

Amazon would have you believe that
they deleted the fake reviews last year, but they were rather inconsistent. I
have just shown you five reviews that seem to go against the principles of reviewing
and could post many more. Why are these posts that are not honestly talking
about the book be included?

If it is this attitude to reviews; is there any value to them?

I seems online retailers have very little control which reviews are posted online. Which is why troll attacks can and do happen.

Online retailers should stop
and consider whether in the long term reviews need to be better regulated so
that their value is not demolished by rogue commentators.

About Me

David is a freelance copywriter, online marketing consultant and a father of three. His online work has helped his clients to create digital marketing campaigns that have delivered strong leads and attracted national publications to contact them.

His latest venture, TwoFeetMarketing, is there to support small to medium businesses to learn how to run their online marketing campaigns cost effectively.